Month: November 2011

Packer Park is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States that includes 1,200 homes built in two unique builder developments of Packer Park 1950s and Brinton Estates 1990s. It is one of four residential communities that form Philadelphia’s Sports Complex Special Services District. The approximate boundaries are Packer Avenue to the north, Hartranft Street to the south, Broad Street to the east, and 20th Street to the west. Packer Park is also home to one of the most organized community groups in the South Philadelphia region.

The original 1950s core community was named after the main Avenue, Packer Avenue. Packer Avenue itself was named in honor of William Fisher Packer, a former governor of Pennsylvania.

The Packer Park urban townhouses distinguish themselves in South Philadelphia by departing from the Philadelphia grid of streets and blocks of dense rowhomes. This included cul-de-sacs that were designed with a greater emphasis on a green park setting.

The Packer Park community name expanded in 2003–2007 adjacent to the original footprint became known as the “Reserve” at Packer Park, a separate housing development of 230 homes built on a triangular land area to the west of 20th Street, north of Pattison, east of Penrose Avenue. The Reserve was built on what was formerly a United States naval housing site, built in 1962 and abandoned in 1995 after the Cold War.